Team India and Sri Lanka are gearing up for the three-match T20I series which is set to commence from Tuesday (January 3). Hardik Pandya has been given the onus to lead the Indian pack for the slam bang outing with Suryakumar Yadav by his side in deputy role. After India's debacle in the T20 World Cup 2022, the team management has taken some key decisions before the Sri Lanka series kicks off. The makeshift with KL Rahul didn't yield much of a result in India's favour and going by Hardik's captaincy portfolio, the decision looks well in place. India's failure in T20Is at the bigger stage gave the Indian team management a food for thought that appointing Hardik as regular skipper could make up for India's underperformance.
Clinching the IPL in his debut season as Gujarat Titans' skipper was enough to show Hardik's aptitude as a leader. He will be expected the reciprocate the same results for the Indian team but the challenge before him will be his fitness. Being an all-rounder he needs to be at the top of his fitness given the potential of an increase in workload.
Meanwhile, former India's star all-rounder Irfan Pathan stressed on this concern and said that India will have to be wary of Hardik's fitness as it will be very crucial going ahead.
“The captaincy Hardik has done, whether it was for the Gujarat Titans in the IPL or at the start for India, I felt the communication was extremely good. He was seen as very agile,” Pathan told in an interaction with Star Sports.
"When there was talk about his captaincy, I was extremely impressed with his approach but along with that India will have to keep in mind that if you are making him the long-term captain, they will have to concentrate a lot on his fitness, whether you talk about him or the team management. It will be very crucial going ahead," he further added.
Marred by the injuries, the 29-year-old had his fair share of struggle with fitness which also saw him taking five-month long break after the T20 World Cup 2021. But his comeback introduced a different Hardik to the cricketing world. A much mature, calmer and a resilient Hardik.
He will also be seen in Rohit Sharma's deputy role in the three-match ODI series against Sri Lanka which is scheduled to be played from January 10.
India's squad for Sri Lanka T20Is: Hardik Pandya (Captain), Ishan Kishan (wk), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shubman Gill, Suryakumar Yadav (VC), Deepak Hooda, Rahul Tripathi, Sanju Samson, Washington Sundar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Axar Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Harshal Patel, Umran Malik, Shivam Mavi and Mukesh Kumar.
India's squad for Sri Lanka ODIs: Rohit Sharma (Captain), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (wk), Ishan Kishan (wk), Hardik Pandya (vice-captain), Washington Sundar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel, Mohd. Shami, Mohd. Siraj, Umran Malik and Arshdeep Singh.
The schedule
Date Match Details Venue Time (IST)
January 3 India vs Sri Lanka, 1st T20I Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai 7:00 PM
January 5 India vs Sri Lanka, 2nd T20I Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Pune 7:00 PM
January 7 India vs Sri Lanka, 3rd T20I Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Rajkot 7:00 PM
January 10 India vs Sri Lanka, 1st ODI Barsapara Cricket Stadium, Guwahati 1:30 PM
January 12 India vs Sri Lanka, 2nd ODI Eden Gardens, Kolkata 1:30 PM
January 15 India vs Sri Lanka, 3rd ODI Greenfield International Stadium, Thiruvananthapuram 1:30 PM